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| Such a simple yet full of meaning cover! |
November 2018, Unbound Digital, 368 pages, Paperback and Ebook, Review copy
Summary from Unbound
A 21st-century twist on the familiar story of Swan Lake, Meeting Odette
shows – in the best tradition of Christmas fairy-tales – how even
against the greatest odds innocence, empathy, humanity and hope can win
the day.
When a swan crashes through Mitzi Fairweather’s front window during a
winter storm, the shocked young journalist decides to tend the injured
bird overnight. But this is no ordinary swan. At sundown, she turns into
a human being…
This startling visitor is Odette, the enchanted swan princess – and
her presence lands Mitzi with some bizarre decisions. Odette is
charming, talented and full of joie de vivre, yet with nothing but her
dress, no understanding of the modern world and no way to go home, she
is totally dependent on the kindness of strangers she encounters here in
the university town of Cygnford. Doomed to be a swan by day and a woman
by night, she remains convinced – to Mitzi’s distress – that only a
man’s sworn eternal love can break her spell.
As Mitzi and Odette try to hide the improbable truth, their web of
deception grows ever more tangled. Mitzi’s brother takes Odette for a
sofa-surfing refugee, and Cyngford’s attitude to a homeless stranger is
not always welcoming. But while winter grows colder and Mitzi
increasingly shares Odette’s plight, perhaps the swan princess’s freedom
doesn’t lie quite where anybody expects.
Nayu's thoughts
Odette merges several themes I love in a tale: ballet, fairytales, humour and a bit of mystery. I love classical ballet, I really don't like modern interpretations of ballets, I love the music which is good timing since I recently got a CD player specifically to listen to classical music (both original and remixed). I didn't know Jessica was so heavily involved in music until I check out her website: it now makes sense why she chose Swan Lake as her book theme.
I hear a lot about Swan Lake because it a famous traditional ballet, albeit a bit of a sad one. I happen to love birds, so witnessing Odette be both a bird a girl is fascinating. A swan princess is rather magical, despite her tragic circumstances, and watching Odette learn about the modern world provides a lot of humour, and a fair amount of difficulties for Mitzi on top of her job issues: this is a theme which sometimes I wished would happen in other tales, because it makes it more realistic. By this I mean that someone new without ID could easily be in illegal immigrant (who I have nothing against and believe should be helped because they are often escaping horrendous living conditions), as Mitzi finds out.
The main elements of Swan Lake are incorporated into Odette, which I think uses a similar disguise for the sorcerer in question. I think what I enjoyed the most was that while Odette was extremely important to the plot, it wasn't told from her point of view, but Mitzi's, who is an outsider, albeit a generous one once she realises what Odette says is true. I liked how coy Odette was when she changed shape, making sure she was in a room away from Mitzi.
Mitzie's ability to reason away breaking bending rules of her flat occupancy made me smile: she wants the best for Odette, which sometimes meant she had to let Odette freely do things without her. Odette isn't entirely powerless, she has a backbone (technically 2, one as a bird and one as a human, although I'm not actually being literal here), she learns from every experience she has. She has a bit of a cinderella act going on because of her transformation time limits, which increases how much I love this book because that's another fairytale that I enjoy.
Whereas I guessed one plot twist, there was a major one which I didn't see coming at all, despite there being hints about it, making me eager to reread it to spot those hints sooner. The end was absolutely beautiful, and while I would have liked it to extend a little more, I had enough to be reassured Odette's life would be a positive one, as would Mitzie's.
I felt sorry for Mitzie because she got brutally betrayed in the story because of Odette, in a shocking way which had me upset on her behalf. She didn't deserve that at all, but then neither did Odette deserve to have such an enchantment placed on her. Both girls cast a spell on me with the enchanting tale that I'll be rereading more than once in future! I have to say I'll be checking out some of Jessica's other books because they look absolutely fascinating.
Find out more on Jessica's website.
Suggested read
For more fairytale magic check out Fairytale Beginnings by Holly Martin (Romance, Fairytale, 10E/10E)
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